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Neolithic Period, ca 10,000 - 3000 BC

- Farming, Cities and Writing

  • Neolithic (Agricultural) Revolution - ca 10,000 BC
  • Sumer, earliest known civilization in southern Mesopotamia, many independent city-states
  • Uruk, emergence of urban life, ca 4000 - 3200 BC
  • Cuneiform appears in Mesopotamia, ca 3500 - 3000 BC
  • Hieroglyphs appear in Egypt, ca 3400 - 3200 BC
  • Ziggurat of Ur - 2100 BC

Bronze Age, ca 3000 - 1000 BC

- Kingdoms and Empires in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Agean

Egypt

  • Old Kingdom, 2649 - 2134 BC
  • Great Pyramid at Giza (Khufu, or Cheops) ca 2560 BC
  • The New Kingdom, ca 1570 - 1069 BC
  • Akhenaten's reign (wife Nefertiti), 1353 – 1336 BC

Mesopotamia

  • Akkadian Empire, first empire, ca 2350 – 2150 BC
  • Sargon, first ruler of the Akkadian Empire - ca 2300 BC
  • The Third Dynasty of Ur (Summerian), ca 2112 - 2004 BC
  • Babylonian Empire, ca 1900 - 1600 BC
  • Code of Hammurabi, ca 1754 BC
  • Hittite Empire (New Kingdom), ca 1400 - 1200 BC
  • Assyrian Empire, ca 1350 - 600 BC
  • Ashurbanipal, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, first systematically organized library, 668 - 631 BC
  • Some of the best tablets recording The Epic of Gilgamesh were discovered in the ruins of Ashurbanipal library.

Agean

  • Minoan civilization flourished, ca 2000 - 1450 BC
  • Mycenaeans, 1600 - 1070 BC

Bronze Age Collapse

  • Mycenaean kingdoms, Hittite Empire, New Kingdom of Egypt, ca 1200 - 1150 BC

Rise and fall of the Kingdoms of Israel, ca 1000 BC - 500

- Early Biblical Events

  • The Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 1800 - 1600 BC
  • Exodus, 1280 BC

- The Kingdoms of Israel

  • Bible composed - 1st millennium BC
  • Reign of Saul, 1040 - 1000 BC
  • Reign of David, 1000 - 961 BC
  • Reign of Solomon, 961 - 922 BC
  • Kingdom splits after Solomon - Israel (north) and Judah (south), 922 BC
  • Assyria defeats Northern Kingdom, 721 BC
  • Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II defeats Southern Kingdom, 586 BC
  • Babylonian Captivity, ca 586 - 539 BC
  • Cyrus the Great founds Persian Empire - 550 BC
  • Cyrus captures Babylon and liberates the Jews - 539 BC

The Golden Age of Greece, ca 500 BC - 1

- Classical Period Greece

  • Persian Wars, 499 - 479 BC
  • Classical Period (from the Battle of Salamis to death of Alexander), 480 - 323 BC
  • Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes ca 480 - 405 BC
  • Pericles leads Athens, 461 - 429 BC
  • Discobolus (Discus Thrower) by Myron - ca 450 BC
  • Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer) by Polykleitos - ca 440 BC
  • Parthenon, 432 BC
  • Peloponnesian Wars, 431 - 404 BC
  • Athens surrenders - 404 BC
  • Death of Socrates - 399 BC
  • Plato founds Academy - 387 BC
  • Aristotle founds Lyceum - 334 BC
  • Reign of Alexander the Great, 336 - 323 BC
  • Hermes and the Infant Dionysus by Praxiteles - ca 330 BC

- Hellenistic period (death of Alexander to Death of Cleopatra) 323 - 30 BC

  • Death of Alexander the Great - 323 BC
  • Laocoön and His Sons - ca 200 BC
  • Winged Victory of Samothrace, ca 200-190 BC
  • Venus de Milo, ca 130 - 100 BC
  • Death of Cleopatra - 30 BC
  • Roman conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt, the last major Hellenistic kingdom - 30 BC

The Roman Republic, ca 500 BC - 1

- Roman letters

  • Roman Republic (established after Tarquinius Superbus deposed), 509 - 27 BC
  • Punic Wars, 264 - 146 BC
  • Battle of Corinth marks the beginning of Rome's domination of Greece, 146 BC
  • Golden Age of Roman literature (Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Catullus, Ovid) 70 BC – 14 AD
  • Conquest of Jerusalem by Romans under Pompey - 63 BC
  • Herod the Great, 37 BC - 4 AD
  • Gallic Wars, 58 - 50 BC
  • Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon - 49 BC
  • Civil war - Caesar vs Pompey, 49 - 45 BC
  • Julius Caesar named Dictator for Life - 44 BC
  • Julius Caesar assassinated by senators led by Brutus and Cassius - 44 BC
  • Battle of Actium, Agrippa leads Octavian fleet against Mark Antony and Cleopatra - 31 BC
  • Battle of Alexandria, deaths of Antony and Cleopatra - 30 BC

The Roman Empire and the Rise of Christanity, 1 - 500

- Architectual achievements

  • Octavian granted title Augustus (majestic), crowned emperor - 27 BC
  • Pax Romana (Accession of Augustus to death of Marcus Aurelius, last of the Five Good Emperors) 27 BC - 180
  • Pont du Gard - 50
  • Colosseum - 80
  • Hadrian's wall - 122
  • Pantheon - 125
  • Constantine converts to Christianity - 312
  • Constantinople founded - 330
  • Hagia Sophia - 360
  • Old St. Peter's Basilica - 326
  • Edict of Thessalonica makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire - 380
  • Romulus Augustus defeated by Odoacer - 476

Middle Ages, 500 BC - 1400

- Cathedrals

  • Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy - 547
  • Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne - 800
  • Palatine (Charlemagne's) Chapel, 805
  • Saint-Denis, 1144
  • Sainte-Chapelle, 1248
  • Chartres, 1252
  • Notre-Dame, 1345
  • Black Death (25 million deaths in Europe), 1346-1351

Renaissance, 1400 - 1600

- Humanism and advances in the visual arts

  • Petrarch ("father of Humanism") discovers Cicero's letters - 1345
  • Humanism - a revival of classical letters, individualistic and critical spirit, and emphasis on secular concerns (vs Scholasticism).
  • The Italian Renaissance - Florence, Venice, Rome
  • Ottoman Turks conquer Constantinople - 1453
  • Gutenberg Bible, an edition of the Vulgate printed with moveable type, ca 1454 - 1455
  • The Northern Renaissance - Netherlands and Flanders, 1500 - 1600

Reformation, 1517 - 1555

  • Martin Luther published his 95 Theses - 1517
  • The Peace of Augsburg - 1555

Counter-Reformation, 1545 - 1648

  • Council of Trent - 1545
  • Conclusion of Thirty Years' War - 1648

Scientific Revolution, 1543 - 1687

  • On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, Copernicus - 1543
  • Novum Organum, Francis Bacon - 1620
  • Principia, Isaac Newton - 1687

The Baroque Period, 1600 - 1750

- Opera and instrumental music, harmony

  • The Calling of Saint Matthew", Caravaggio, 1599 – 1600
  • Claudio Monteverdi, 1567 – 1643, transitional figure between Renaissance and Baroque. He wrote many madrigals and developed the Italian operatic style, L'Orfeo (1607) is the earliest opera still widely performed.
  • The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Bernini, 1647 – 1652
  • Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750, employed many forms including concerto grosso, fugue, cantata.
  • George Frideric Handel, 1685-1759, famous for operas and oratorios.
  • Catholic vs Protestant Baroque Art

The Enlightenment, 1715 - 1789

Classical and Neo-classical, 1750 - 1800

  • Franz Joseph Haydn, 1732 - 1809, Father of the Symphony and String Quartet
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756 - 1791
  • Jacques-Louis David, (1748 - 1825).
  • The Death of Socrates
  • Napoleon Crossing the Alps
  • Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1780 - 1867.
  • The Apotheosis of Homer
  • La Grande Odalisque
  • Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770 - 1827 (transitional)

Age of Revolutions

  • Industrial Revolution, 1760 - 1840
  • The American Revolution, 1775 - 1783
  • The French Revolution, 1789 – 1799
  • Napoleon becomes Emperor - 1804

Romanticism and Realism, 1800 - 1900

Modernism, 1900 -

  • First flight, Orville and Wilbur Wright - 1903

Modernity

The modern era for art and architecture began in the 15 century:

  • Giotto (precursor), Arena Chapel, ca. 1305
  • Brunelleschi, Florence Cathedral Dome, ca. 1417 - 1436
  • Donatello, David, 1428 - 1432
  • Jan Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Wedding, 1434
  • Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1478 - 1482

The modern era for literature began in the 16th and 17th century:

  • Petrarch (precursor), 1304 - 1374
  • Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1466 - 1536
  • Shakespeare's plays, 1590 - 1610
  • Cervantes, Don Quixote, 1605

The modern era for music began in the 17th and 18th centuries:

  • Monteverdi, 1567 – 1643
  • Rise of Homophony in Opera and Instrumental Music (Monteverdi)
  • L'Orfeo, 1607
  • Development of instrumental forms like the concerto (Corelli and Vivaldi) and sonata (Scarlatti and CPE Bach)
  • Establishment of Tonal (keys) and Functional (chords) Harmony: Composers began to clearly use major and minor scales, with chords that followed predictable patterns
  • Vivaldi, The Four Seasons, 1720
  • Bach, Brandenburg Concertos, 1721